Compass Racing officially announcing IMSA Sprint Cup participation
TORONTO BASED COMPASS RACING LONG TIME MCLAREN RELATIONS TO CONTINUE WITH MCLAREN 720S GT3 IN IMSA WEATHERTECH GTD
Officially announced today on imsa.com and on the team’s website, Compass Racing has unveiled its colours in a private session that took place earlier this week at CTMP.
Compass Racing has been working closely with McLaren these past seasons. “We are pleased to extend our partnership with McLaren by officially launching the new 720S GT3 in North America,” enthused Compass Racing’s President, Jill Beck. “We’ve worked closely with McLaren in developing their GT4 car over the past few seasons, and look forward to continuing that strong relationship over the coming years, in both GT3 and GT4,” noted Beck. “The new Sprint Cup is something we’d hoped IMSA would implement, as it provides a perfect ladder for our McLaren program, with steps from GS to Sprint to a full WeatherTech effort.”
The first race of seven is scheduled for May 3-5 at Midi-Ohio. Other tracks visited will be Belle Isle (Detroit), Canadian Tire Motorsports Park(July 5-7), Lime Rock Park, Road America, Virginia International Raceway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Factory McLaren driver Paul Holton will be joined by Matt Plumb for the team’s championship effort, with Woking providing deep technical support at each event. “Paul has been one of the test drivers on the car through its development over the past year, and we all have high hopes for the first race car developed entirely in-house by McLaren Automotive”, added Jill Beck.
Reflecting on his development work with the new platform, Holton said, “The production GT3 has impressed with the refinement of what is a very bespoke package, and is the result of extensive testing and development throughout the past year.”
Plumb, the winningest driver in GS history, returns for his third year with the team. “In developing a new car, driver continuity counts for a lot, and we are pleased to have Matt and Paul working with us on our GT3 program,” Compass Racing Team Principal Karl Thomson said. “We know the competition in WeatherTech is fierce, but we believe that fifteen straight years of battling in the Michelin Pilot Challenge has prepared us for the fight.”
Dan Walmsley, Director of Motorsport at McLaren Automotive, welcomed the Compass Racing as the first team worldwide to publicly announce its GT3 program. “The 720S GT3 is the first race car designed and built by McLaren Automotive and is an important product for our company, and therefore we have committed to ensuring that we deliver a product worthy of carrying the iconic brand. Compass Racing has been an invaluable partner to us and has already demonstrated their commitment to winning through their results thus far this season.
Image and excerpts: Jordan Lenssen/Compass Racing website
